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6.9/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Mystery of Mr. X remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you've got eighty minutes to kill and love watching smug guys in fancy coats talk their way out of handcuffs, The Mystery of Mr. X is absolutely worth a spin today. It is perfect for anyone who misses when detective movies were mostly just vibes, heavy fog, and highly questionable accents.
Modern thriller fans who need tight plotting and no plot holes will probably hate this, though. 🤷♂️
The setup is simple but kind of hilarious. Robert Montgomery plays Nicholas Revel, a high-society jewel thief who is very good at his job but terrible at avoiding suspicion.
See, someone is wandering around London stabbing police officers, and the cops think Nicholas is the guy because he happened to be near one of the crime scenes with a fancy diamond in his pocket. So, to keep himself out of the gallows, he decides he has to find the real serial killer himself.
It is like a weird precursor to those buddy cop movies, except his partner is just his own massive ego. I love how Montgomery plays this guy.
He has this permanent smirk that makes you want to either shake his hand or punch him in the jaw. He does this thing with his hat where he tilts it just enough to look shady but still somehow respectable.
It's a lost art, honestly. The London fog in this movie is also something else.
It doesn’t look like actual weather; it looks like three guys off-camera are aggressively blowing cigar smoke into the frame. In one scene, the fog is so thick you can barely see the actors' faces, but they still manage to find each other instantly.
Classic old Hollywood logic. It doesn't have the gritty street-level grime of something like Tenth Avenue, but it makes up for it with sheer atmosphere.
Then you have Lewis Stone playing the police commissioner. He looks like he hasn't slept since 1912 and is deeply annoyed that he has to be in this movie.
Every time Montgomery opens his mouth, Stone just sighs like a disappointed father. It's great.
There is this weird bit in the middle where the pacing just... dies. We spend about five minutes watching people talk about a carriage ride that we don't even get to see.
I actually found myself checking my phone during that part. But then the killer strikes again, and the movie remembers it is supposed to be a thriller.
Speaking of the killer, the "Mr. X" of the title is... well, he is not exactly Moriarty. His big plan involves sending weird letters to the newspaper, which felt a bit cliché even for 1934.
But the way the movie handles the suspense is actually pretty neat. They use these really sharp shadow angles that feel almost German Expressionist, a bit like some scenes in The Last Card.
There is this one shot of a shadow on a brick wall that genuinely gave me goosebumps. Elizabeth Allan is there too, playing the love interest.
She is fine, but her character has this weird habit of standing extremely close to doors when she is listening to secrets. Like, her ear is basically glued to the wood.
It looks so uncomfortable. Also, there is a scene where a guy gets stabbed and he doesn't scream, he just kind of goes 'Oh!' like he dropped his keys.
The climax is a bit of a mess, if I'm being honest. It happens so fast you barely have time to register who is shooting at whom.
And the resolution of the romance plot feels incredibly tacked on. One minute they are arguing, the next they are basically planning a wedding.
But hey, that's what you get with these 30s quickies. They don't linger; they just get the job done and let you go about your day.
If you want a cozy, slightly clunky mystery that doesn't demand too much brainpower, give this one a look. It has that dusty charm you only find in films of this era. 🎞️
IMDb —
1923
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